Doing it

[infrogmation]

Something that annoys me is reading ill-informed articles saying nothing is getting done in New Orleans, and that the situation here is still what it was a couple months ago.

Every week, every day, more people are returning to their homes, fixing up their property, businesses are reopening, more blocks are getting services back, intersections have traffic lights back.

The Feds and FEMA are much maligned, generally with very good reason. But one major thing they are are doing that's actually helpful is paying for a big crew of debris hauling contractors. One misinformed article by someone who apparently came in to the city for part of a day reported that all the debris from Katrina is still sitting where it landed and nothing is being cleaned up. A quick look without talking to anyone might give that impression. It's a massive undertaking, but a small mountain range of debris, flooded cars, and dead appliances has already been hauled off, with vast convoys of huge trucks hauling more every day. Of course, more trash is generated daily as people haul out their damaged possessions and gut and repair their places.

Unfortunately, the debris not being used to fill in MR-GO or create new chains of barrier islands in Lower Plaquemines or Saint Bernard.

Most of what is getting done, however, is being done by New Orleanians, often in spite of absent help or oversight from insurance, FEMA, or local government.

An example from yesterday's Times-Picayune: Parents and alumni took it on themselves to fix up flood damaged Ben Franklin Highschool.
"Parents came in with 24-inch and 18-inch chainsaws [...] generators, cleaning supplies, garden sprayers, wet-dry vacuums and surgical masks. [...] With the process still in its infancy, it was crucial that volunteers "stay below the radar," Firneno said. "We didn't want to create a situation where they (school officials) were going to come and tell us we couldn't be there. We felt it was easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission." "

Some have suggested that the lowest lying parts of the city should not be rebuilt for residential use, or homes should be required to be jacked up, perhaps having the downstairs be garages only. While politicians debate what guidelines to give, the reality is that sorry, it's too late. People who can swing it one way or another are already rebuilding even in the most damaged and lowest lying neighborhoods.

Comments

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

That's something fairly insightful that Matthew Yglesias said not long after the hurricane: that much of the debate over whether "we" should rebuild New Orleans was fantasy-based in that there was no we to make a collective decision. (His point at the time was that a lot of people are not coming back regardless of how much anyone may want them to. But the reverse is also true.)